Sonication assisted preparation of graphene oxide/graphitic-C3N4 nanosheet hybrid with reinforced photocurrent for photocatalyst applications

Abstract

Graphitic C₃N₄ (g-C₃N₄), as an advanced metal free photocatalyst, is known to be poorly exfoliated and dispersed in water from its powder form which has a layered structure, the intrinsic plane structure is not destroyed, and this has largely limited its application. In this work, we report our progress on successful sonication exfoliation of g-C₃N₄ nanosheets in graphene oxide (GO) aqueous solution. By making use of the substrate character of GO, g-C₃N₄ nanosheets of unvaried intrinsic structure were exfoliated and anchored on the GO surface, resulting in a GO/g-C₃N₄ hybrid. Moreover, the photocurrent of the hybrid was largely reinforced at the optimal weight fraction of GO. As a result, the corresponding photocatalytic performance of the hybrid with optimized photocurrent character was largely improved.